I'm not necessarily looking for advice, maybe I just want to vent a little so here it goes. Nathan (who is now 7 weeks old) has been a bit of a terror at night....heck, who am I kidding...he's been pretty fussy non-stop all day. Every time we think we have the solution, it stops working. We've had him diagnosed with acid reflux due to a weak muscle in his esophagus and he's been prescribed medicine. That seemed to help a little, but he's still fussy. We also use Mylicon which helps as well, but still doesn't fix the problem....they just seem to be band-aids.
It always seems to be related to his stomach...gas issues. He'll fuss around for about an hour or two, let out a couple big farts then fill his diaper with more poop than it can handle and he's good for an hour or so. Then we're back at it again!
-- I would like to know how to get the poop stains off of the elastic on our diaper covers....any suggestions??? --
The worst part is, we don't know what's wrong so we really can't help him. We feel bad for him! If you're the praying type, please say a prayer for us (more importantly for him) that we can get past this so he can be a happy baby.
Aside from the above issues, Nathan can be a fun baby! I think I was able to make him smile at just 3 weeks and we've been working on building up to the first laugh....can't wait!!!! Another great thing about him is that when other people are holding him, he's well behaved and in a good mood. Maybe we just need to have people over ALL THE TIME!
MEN, PLEASE READ THIS!
I have a confession to make, but I don't think it's completely my fault. I think this whole notion that Dad's are kind of moronic when it comes to babies is sort of true. Last night, for instance, Lindsey was going to a meeting so I took Nathan over to a youth event with me. The LAST thing she told me before she left was to get the milk and bring it with. So she left and then I left. We met up a few hours later at the youth event and Nathan started to get fussy. Lindsey went to look for the milk and to her surprise it wasn't there. When she questioned me, all I could say was....I forgot! How the heck did I forget? It was the last thing she said to me before I left the house? A word of advice to Dads -- DON"T PUT OFF WHAT YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW, CAUSE YOU'RE JUST GOING TO FORGET! Seriously if she tells you to bring milk, turn off the TV get off your can and go to the fridge. Put the bottle in the "to-go" bag and put it in the diaper bag. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE....DON'T PULL A DAN!!!!!
OK, I'm off my soapbox...I hope that I can save just one man from making this mistake! God Speed gentlemen.
Now let's talk about diapers...this is a diapering blog after all!
Lindsey and I have been having some difficulty with the absorbency of prefolds. They are leaking through our covers after one pee, which isn't good cause we thought we'd get a minimum of 2 uses per cover before washing. This sent Lindsey on a mission to find a better diaper to use with the covers. After much research and conversations with friends and fellow CDers, she found that fitted diapers would be a good way to go.
Looking online, she found some in wool and some in fleece and all were very expensive compared to prefolds. So she decided to stop by our local cloth diaper store, Comfy Bummy, to pick one up in fleece to see how it would work. We ended up loving it and here's why:
- soft material that pulls moisture away from skin
- full wrap-around coverage
- can be put in the dryer
- the elastic around the legs adds another barrier to keep unwanted poo and pee off of clothing.
- (I just figured out that I can use bullet points...watch out!)
Since the price is so expensive for the fitted diapers, Lindsey and I are going to try and make our own using a pattern we found online and some fleece we bought at the local fabric store. Our friend Amanda is the inspiration for this project. Since we really like Velcro, we'll be adding that to the diaper. The only concern at this point is how exactly to sew the elastic into the diaper. The good news is, we can use the million extra flat-folds we have to practice. I hope by the time I put up my next post, I'll be able to show off our handy work!!! Something to look forward to....right? OK, don't answer that!
Have any of you made your own fitted diapers? Where did you get the patterns? Any advice or suggestion for us before we move forward?
Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!!!!!
I'll talk to you soon,
Dan the Diapering Dad
Try setting your covers out in the sun. The sun will work to eliminate stains. Also, avoid the Gerber prefolds. They are the worst out there. Try a Chinese or Indian prefold. They work wonderfully and most retailers usually sell different absorbency and sizes. Alltogether Enterprises sells seconds, so you get a dozen for 10 or 11 dollars.
ReplyDeleteIs your baby nursing or taking a bottle? If he takes a bottle, you could try adding probiotics found at any healthfood store. Worked wonders for our gassy baby thaty also had reflux. Wonder of wonders, his reflux went away after we started probiotics.
Good luck with your cloth diaper journey!
Hi Danielle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback, we did end up buying the Gerber prefolds even after being told not to by several people. We had coupons at Babies R Us that were expiring and they covered the cost of a package. Definately would have been better off just getting $15 in candy...LOL! We will be getting more chinese prefolds in a month or so.
He's nursing and being bottle fed, we just bought some probiotics for ourselves and didn't even think about using them on Nathan. We'll definately look into that.
Oh yeah, about the diapers. Leaving them in the sun works???? Awesome! Once the skys clear up and we get warmer weather, I'm definately trying that!
Thank you so much for your reply!!!!!
Have an awesome day!
Dan
Dan,
ReplyDeleteI just started reading your blog so I am a little behind. What I have learned works best on prefolds is the Indian, they quilt up more than Chinese and are more absorbent. Chinese are perfect for burp cloths!
Also just leaving them in the sun will lighten them and help with the stains. If you have harder stains then take a lemon and put the juice over the stain then leave it to dry in the sun. This will help a lot with stains.
Thanks Darci! I have not tried the lemon juice trick yet. Our oldest son, now 2, gets a rash every time he poops in cloth diapers so I have washed them in baking soda to neutralize the ph. I hope that helps. Do you have any suggestions for that? I hope you enjoy the blog....not that I'm almost 2 years into it, there isn't much reviewing anymore. But it's still fun!
ReplyDelete